15. Epidemiological typing of bacteria

Question 1

What is bacterial typing?

Answer 1

• phenotyping; identifying an organism by its appearance
• genotyping; identifying an organism by its molecular data

Question 2

Why is bacterial typing important?

Answer 2

tells us:
- routes of transmission
- treatment
- source
- reservoirs of infection

Question 3

What is an example of serotyping?

Answer 3

Kauffman - white classification

Question 4

What is the slide agglutination test?

Answer 4

1. place 2 drops of sterile saline on a slide and emulsify the organism colonies to make milky suspensions

–> smooth suspension
add drop of antiserum to one suspension and mix it only. others act as control

–> rough suspension of agglutination
discard slide